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Eddie:

Thawng khaw thaam arai noi si
 

ทอง ขอถามอะไรหน่อยสิ

Thong, can I ask you something?

Thong:

waa maa loey
 

ว่ามาเลย

Sure!

Eddie:

khruu kap aajaan taang kan yaang rai
 

ครูกับอาจารย์ต่างกันอย่างไร

What’s the difference between "khruu"  and "aajaan" ?

Thong:

rueang nii tawp yaak hae
 

เรื่องนี้ตอบยากแฮะ

Wow! This is difficult, eeh!

Eddie:

phom daiyin nakrien riek aajaan waa aajaan
 

ผมได้ยินนักเรียน
เรียกอาจารย์ว่าอาจารย์

I’ve heard students address their teachers as "aajaan".
 

tae aajaan thaen tua-eng waa khuuu
 

แต่อาจารย์แทนตัวเองว่าครู

But teachers call themselves "khruu".

Thong:

khuue yaangnii na kawnthii rao mii rabop roongrien
 

คือย่างนี้นะ
ก่อนที่เรามีระบบโรงเรียน

It’s something like this. Before we had a school system,
 

rao riek phuu thii hai khwaamruu kae phuu-uen waa khruu
 

เราเรียกผู้ที่ให้ความรู้
แก่ผู้อื่นว่าครู

we called the person who gave lessons to others "khruu",
 

chen khruudaap khruumuay
 

เช่น ครูดาบ ครูมวย

like "khruudaap"  (a sword master), "khruu muay"  (a boxing master).

Eddie:

phom khoey daiyin 'khruuphreyng"
 

ผมเคยได้ยิน "ครูเพลง"

I’ve heard about "khruuphreyng"  (a singing master).

Thong:

nan kaw chai tawmaa muea mii roongrien
 

นั่นก็ใช่ ต่อมาเมื่อมีโรงเรียน

That’s another one. Then once we had schools,

 

phuu thii sawn wichaa taang taang nai roongrien kaw riek waa khruu
 

ผู้ที่สอนวิชาต่างๆ
ในโรงเรียนก็เรียกว่าครู

we started calling the people who taught school subjects "khruu".
 

kaw loey chai kham nii rueay maa
 

ก็เลยใช้คำนี้เรื่อยมา

And the term exists till now.

Eddie:

laew kham waa "aajaan" la
 

แล้วคำว่า “อาจารย์” ล่ะ

What about "aajaan" ?

Thong:

taam khwaamkhaaojao khawng phom na
 

ตามความเข้าใจของผมนะ

According to my understanding,
 

patjubannii "aajaan" pen muean sapphanaam
 

ปัจจุบันนี้ “อาจารย์”
เป็นเหมือนสรรพนาม

the term "aajaan"   is something like a (personal) pronoun.
 

thii chai riek phuu thii tham naathii lawn thuk radap
 

ที่ใช้เรียก
ผู้ที่ทำหน้าที่สอนทุกระดับ

(It’s) used to address and refer to teachers at every level

 

muean ja pen kaanhaikiet aachiip nii
 

เหมือนจะเป็นการให้เกียรติ
วิชาชีพนี้

— as a way to honour the profession.

Eddie:

phrohchanan “aajaan” maaithueng
 

เพราะฉะนั้น “อาจารย์”
หมายถึง

So, "aajaan"  can be
 

saattraajaan rue khruu thammadaa thammadaa kaw dai
 

ศาสตราจารย์
หรือครูธรรมดาๆ ก็ได้

a professor or a regular teacher.

Thong:

chai laew
 

ใช่แล้ว

That’s right.

Eddie:

laew maaithueng phrasong duay chai mai
 

แล้วหมายถึงพระสงฆ์ด้วย
ใช่ไหม

And this can be a Buddhist monk, too.

Thong:

chai chai keng nii Etdii
 

ใช่ๆ เก่งนี่เอ็ดดี้

That's right again. That's sharp, Eddie.

  • This lesson was prepared by Acharn Sunee Siidao, Educational Specialist.

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    | Comments to Ajaan Sunee at suneec@bangkokpost.co.th |
    | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd.
    All rights reserved 2003
    Last modified: October 6, 2003     |

    • Language watch:

    Have you noticed that Thais always add a small particle at the end of a sentence or a question? This is mainly to soften a blunt end making the sentence or question more pleasant to listeners. A few of these particles are acceptable only among close friends. Let’s look at some common ones.

    At the end of a statement:

    hae (high tone) suggesting uncertainty
    = rueang nii tawp yaak hae
    = jing hae

    mang  (high tone) suggesting doubt or sarcasm
    = (Daeng pai nai la) khong pai talaat mang  (He may to the market, perhaps.)
    =puay mang  (Maybe he’s sick.)

    na  (high tone) suggesting there’s more explanation to come; lessening the strong sense
    = khue yaang nii na  (It’s something like this.)
    = kinjey nii khreyng na  (Vegetarian is quite a strict practise.)

    nii (falling tone) emphasising the meaning of the sentence
    = Eddie keng nii (Good, Eddie.)
    = pai talaat maa nii (Oh, you’ve been to the market.)

    wa  (falling tone) emphasising the meaning of the sentence, but acceptable only among close friends
    = pai talaat maa wa
    = keng wa

    At the end of a question or command:

    la  (falling tone) softening a blunt end
    = laew kham waa “aajaan” la (What about aajaan ?)

    si (falling tone) suggesting a mild force of the word please
    = khaw thaam arai noi si  (Can I ask you something?)

    At the end of an imperative:

    si  (high tone) suggesting a strong command
    = bawk maa si pai nai maa (Tell me, where did you go?)

    noy  (falling tone) toning down the request; please
    = chuay poet naataang hai noy  (Can you open the window please?)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Phuut Phaasaa Thai gives you useful topical and seasonal Thai words and phrases used in daily-life conversations. The column will give you some instant Thai language to help you out in common situations.

    ๗ tulaakhom ๒๕๔๖  ( 7 October, 2003)     

    khruu kap aajaan

    The feature story in learning post dated 2 September 2003, entitled English: The Asian Way  by Kingsley Bolton is extremely interesting for me. One sentence reads ‘Recently the Macquarie Dictionary  team from Australia, compiled a list of Thai words to include in the Grolier International Dictionary’. And the first on that list is ‘acharn’. Ah, I think this is a good subject for this column. Why? I was asked one question many times — what’s the difference between ‘archarn’ and ‘khru’? The Grolier  definition explains the terms this way:

    acharn noun Thai English  a teacher, normally at tertiary level — Other Forms: Other spellings are ajarn, ajaan and archarn. Teachers other than at university are usually called khru. This word is borrowed into English from Thai.

    What do you think of this definition? Thong, in today’s conversation, observes how we Thais use the terms.